Is "A.A. is a selfish program" in the Big Book?
In short:
- No. "A selfish program" isn't anywhere in our sources: not in the Big Book, the pamphlets, the history books or the story collection.
- Every time the program text (pp. 1–164) uses "selfish" or "selfishness," it means a defect. "Selfishness—self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles" (p. 62). "Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness" (p. 62).
- What the book does say is that helping others protects the helper's own sobriety (pp. 89, 94, 97), and that a man must keep sober (p. 82). It never calls either of these selfish. It says the self-protective motive "became secondary" for the first members (p. 159).
- Dr. Bob, in a 1948 talk, admitted that part of his own early helping was to keep himself from getting drunk, and said that if you called it selfishness "you'd be quite correct."
What the search found
All our sources were searched for "selfish program," "program is selfish," "be selfish," "selfish about my sobriety," "healthy selfishness" and "sobriety first." None of them turns up in this sense. The only "be selfish" in our sources are in a dropped story in Experience, Strength and Hope, where a man reasons that one who loves his neighbour "could not be selfish" (Experience, Strength and Hope, 2003, story from an earlier edition).
Every "selfish" in the program text
Read in place, each "selfish" is something to get rid of, and each "unselfish" something to aim for (with one neutral exception, noted): - Bill, in hospital: a doctor told him that though he was "certainly selfish and foolish," he had been seriously ill (p. 7). - The real alcoholic is sensible about everything except liquor, "but in that respect he is incredibly dishonest and selfish" (p. 21). - The actor who wants to run the show may be "mean, egotistical, selfish and dishonest" (p. 61). Even when he's kind, he's "really a self-seeker" (p. 61). - "Selfishness—self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles" (p. 62). "Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness" (p. 62). "We must, or it kills us!" (p. 62). - In the resentment inventory: "Where had we been selfish, dishonest, self-seeking and frightened?" (p. 67). On sex conduct, each relationship is tested: "was it selfish or not?" (p. 69). - At home: "Selfish and inconsiderate habits have kept the home in turmoil" (p. 82). - Chapter 8, written in the voice of alcoholics' wives, says they "were not above selfishness or dishonesty" (p. 116). Earlier it lists, among all the wives tried with their drinking husbands, "We have been unselfish and self-sacrificing" (p. 105); there it is simply one of many things that didn't work. - The promises: "We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows" (p. 84). - Step Ten: "Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear" (p. 84). - Step Eleven: each night ask, "Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid?" (p. 86). In prayer, "We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends" (p. 87). - To make faith vital, it "must be accompanied by self sacrifice and unselfish, constructive action" (p. 93). - The man getting over alcoholism won't get far "if he fails to show unselfishness and love under his own roof" (p. 127). - Dr. Silkworth praised "the unselfishness of these men" (p. xxvii).
What the saying may be reaching for
The book does treat the alcoholic's sobriety as essential, and says so without apology: - "Certainly he must keep sober, for there will be no home if he doesn't" (p. 82). It adds at once that sobriety alone isn't enough to make good at home (p. 82). - Helping other alcoholics protects the helper. "Nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics" (p. 89). Tell the newcomer that your helping him "plays a vital part in your own recovery" (p. 94). "Helping others is the foundation stone of your recovery" (p. 97). - A family is told to let a newly sober father go as far as he likes in helping other alcoholics, even with some neglect of the family, because "this will do more to insure his sobriety than anything else" (p. 129).
None of this is called selfish. It is all aimed outward: at other alcoholics, at the family, at being "of maximum service to God and the people about us" (p. 77). Of the first Akron members the book says: "Though they knew they must help other alcoholics if they would remain sober, that motive became secondary" (p. 159).
The Traditions put it the same way for the group. The Long Form's first point: "Hence our common welfare comes first. But individual welfare follows close afterward" (p. 563). See Tradition One: does it mean "my sobriety comes first"?
Dr. Bob, 1948
In his last major talk, given in December 1948 and printed in P-53, Dr. Bob said he found it hard to love his fellow man. At first he went through "the motions of trying to be helpful to the other fellow" partly so he wouldn't get drunk himself (P-53). "Well, you could say that was just a manifestation of selfishness, and you'd be quite correct" (P-53). That is the closest anything in our sources comes to the saying. It's one man's honest account of his own early motive. He doesn't call the program selfish, and in the same passage the service he means by "absolute unselfishness" is "actually giving of yourself" (P-53). See Is helping others selfish if it keeps me sober?
What this means
"A.A. is a selfish program" isn't the Big Book's language, and it runs against the book's own diagnosis. The book calls selfishness "the root of our troubles" (p. 62) and asks a member to watch for it every day (p. 84). What the book does say is narrower: a member must stay sober, and he protects his sobriety by working with others. It expects even that motive to give way to giving himself for others (p. 159).
Read it yourself
- Chapter 5, "How It Works" (pp. 60–67): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt5.pdf
- Chapter 6, "Into Action" (pp. 82–88): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt6.pdf
- Chapter 7, "Working With Others" (pp. 89–103): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt7.pdf
- Chapter 11, "A Vision for You" (p. 159): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt11.pdf
- P-53, The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, free from A.A.: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/P-53_0725.pdf
Sources
| Source | Pages | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Alcoholics Anonymous, all our sources (searched) | — | 1939 text; fourth edition 2001 |
| Chapters 1, 2, 5–9, 11 | 7, 21, 61–69, 77, 82–94, 97, 127–129, 159 | 1939 |
| "The Doctor's Opinion" | xxvii | 1939 |
| The Twelve Traditions, Long Form, One (Big Book Appendix I) | 563 | AA Grapevine, 1946; in the Big Book from 1955 |
| Dr. Bob's last major talk, in P-53 | — | talk December 1948; pamphlet © 2017 |
Big Book page numbers are from the fourth edition.
Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book, Experience, Strength and Hope and P-53 are © A.A. World Services, Inc.
These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.